New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was back at work at the Krishi Bhawan on Thursday after the end of the week-long standoff between his party NCP and the Congress on Wednesday.

With drought-like situation being witnessed in several parts of the country in view of a truant monsoon, he plunged into a series of meetings with senior officials, including those of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), on ways to tackle the problem.

After sending their resignation last Thursday, Pawar and his party colleague Praful Patel, who is Minister of Heavy Industries, skipped the Cabinet meeting on that day and had not been going to office.

In office on Thursday, Pawar talked to Food Minister K V Thomas on the status of sowing of Kharif crops. Interestingly, Thomas, who was to hold a press conference on Thursday on the monsoon and the price situation, cancelled it, apparently with the senior minister back at work.

Pawar is expected to hold a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought, chaired by him, on Tuesday following he may brief the media. Meanwhile, his party colleague and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel left for London on Wednesday night, hours after the standoff was resolved.

There was no meeting on Thursday of the Cabinet, which is generally held on Thursdays. The list of cabinet ministers is still absent from the website of Prime Minister Office (PMO) more than a fortnight after a controversy erupted over the status of No 2.